The joys of reading

It's a sad day when a major bookseller in the country has to file bankruptcy. I know I'm a few days late but for those of you who don't know already, Borders Booksellers had to declare chapter 11 bankruptcy recently and as a result are closing 200 of their stores across the country. The up side is those stores are having liquidation sales starting today but overall it's a sad loss for the reading community. The article I linked here includes a link to see which stores are closing and I saw that the one a few blocks from my old apartment in Los Angeles is closing. I used to love walking home from class or work and stopping into that store to kill a hour or so. I feel very fortunate that the store out here is not closing. Thank zombies since it's literally the only major bookstore within a 15 to 20 mile radius. As far as I know, the next closest stores are in Alexandria and Washington D.C. and who wants to drive all the way there and deal with parking in the city, even for a bookstore? Not me, says the cat. Anyway, its sadly yet another step down the path leading to the death of booksellers. I love my online booksellers but there's nothing like an actual bookstore where you are surrounded by books and can get lost in the numerous possibilities. I really hope we as a society don't let physical bookstores die completely.

In happier reading news, I just learned about Matchbook Magazine. A bit ironic that I'm including it in this post since it's strictly an online magazine (I promise I still adore my paper magazines too!) but this is so well put together and such a neat idea, I couldn't help but fall in love and need to share this amazing discovery with everyone. But the inevitable downside is I can't take it with me anywhere! I am stubbornly resisting new technologies like the e-readers and more portable tablet computers. I can appreciate the e-readers' ability to contain several books in one device but I love physical books more than computer, e-books, and audio books combined. And I have my laptop that works perfectly fine and I don't need to have yet another electronic device laying around. I'd rather use the space for more books, magazines and crafty materials. :) But regardless, I'm totally infatuated with Matchbook Magazine and you should be too!

And just because I want to, here is a link to a description for book that my mom's recent visit reminded me I loved. My mom found Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos and loved it so much she sent it out my way. When I first started reading it, I thought it was good but couldn't see what was so special about it that my mom kept going on about. And then you get to the middle of the book and it hits you. If you're looking for a book that will totally suck you in, you should try this one. Just a thought. :)

Happy Saturday everyone!

Roses and homemade valentines

Happy belated V-day everyone! I hope you all everyone enjoyed themselves no matter what they were celebrating. It was a normal day around here except Ethan was being particularly fussy that day and by 10:30 in the morning I was so stressed out I thought I wouldn't make it the rest of the day. It was then that I was able to go downstairs and found a bouquet of roses, teddy bear and box of chocolates that had been delivered to the house for me from my amazing husband. I had just texted him about how the morning was going then I found that and I just started crying. It was so thoughtful and completely unexpected and so made me feel better. Of course the rest of the day stayed busy so I wasn't able to make my men valentines to show my love until the next day (yesterday). I took the idea for their valentines from Miss Hillary at Wee Wonderfuls and I think they turned out pretty well.




I have no idea if Charlie will keep his but I like that this is more durable than paper valentines so Ethan can keep his as long as he wants (and it will last until he can make that decision).